Teaching German

Culture

Rolling Stone magazine turns 50: 'We wanted to find a voice'

It's been 50 years since the first issue of Rolling Stone was published in California. The legendary magazine captured the spirit of the time with its unique brand of music journalism, says founding editor Michael Lydon.

When the first issue of Rolling Stone hit the news stands on November 9, 1967 — complete with a photograph of John Lennon on its front cover — nobody could've known that it would still be going strong five decades later.

"Rolling Stone found this audience instantly," remembers the publication's founding managing editor, Michael Lydon. "Immediately we were getting calls. Eric Clapton called up, the Warner Brothers from LA called up."

John Lennon appeared on the first-ever Rolling Stone

That first edition featured reviews on albums by Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and photos and articles about the Grateful Dead following a recent drugs bust.

The magazine captured the spirit of the time, says Lydon, and fast gained a following with its unique mix of music coverage and political journalism.

"It was a mind expanding time," Lydon tells DW. "It was not a niche market kind of thing. Music was the core, that was the thing that brought everybody together."

'We all wanted to be the fifth Beatle'

These days, any aspiring journalist might harbor ambitions of securing a spot on the Rolling Stone news desk, but when Lydon came on board, it was a startup.

Michael Lydon with his typewriter in 1967

After graduating from college in the 1960s, Lydon's employer, Newsweek, sent him to London, where he interviewed John Lennon and Paul McCartney, both fresh from the success of the 1965 Beatles album Rubber Soul.

However, the real catalyst came during a visit to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, to see the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin.

It was there he met Jann Wenner, the current Rolling Stone publisher, who already envisaged a magazine targeting the new generation of hippy, pot-smoking youth that had become disenchanted with what news stands had to offer.

A few weeks later, in a coffee shop in San Francisco, Wenner asked Lydon to be his first managing editor. Lydon was so inspired by the musicians he would later interview that he wanted to be a part of that crowd.

"I had been looking for something like this," Lydon says. "Just like today when like-minded kids graduate from college and say 'Hey, let's start a website.' It was very much like that in that there was a group of young people in their 20s who all wanted to do something ... we all wanted to be the fifth Beatle."

Jann Wenner, who founded Rolling Stone as a 20-year-old college dropout, is still the magazine's publisher today

Lydon jokes how the wily Wenner piggybacked off the Rolling Stones by appropriating the name of one of the biggest bands in the world. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards themselves took the name from Muddy Waters track Rollin' Stone, while Bob Dylan enhanced it with his release of Like a Rolling Stone in 1965. It's fair to say Wenner knew what he was doing.

"That summer was the 'Summer of Love'," Lydon says. "We were so inspired by the music coming out — Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles — it was so good, so exciting, it was so in tune with what millions of young Americans and (people) around the world were thinking and hoping for the lives they wanted to create for themselves."

In 1981: John Lennon and Yoko Ono

"We're all brothers and sisters and people really meant that. 'He not busy being born is busy dying,'" he adds, quoting Dylan. "We were really struggling with these things and we wanted to find a voice."

Yet while those big acts were attracting a new breed of audience, Esquire the go-to publication at the time, had started to struggle. Lydon and Wenner could smell blood.

"(Wenner) saw that there was this new generation of hippies and LSD and long hair and bell bottom pants and paisley shirts and all that. That was a new audience," Lydon says. "The magazines that college kids read like Esquire in particular, that was all about fine brands of Scotch and tweed jackets and khaki pants and button down shirts… but all of a sudden...the long haired hippy look, was the look. And Esquire was out of date."

Michael Lydon, 75, today a singer-songwriter

The launch

Working from an attic in a San Francisco office building, the small team, including music critic Ralph J. Gleason, assembled the first issue of Rolling Stone. Its release on November 9, 1967, was followed by tears of joy and champagne, Lydon recalls.

"We all sort of cheered and went home tired but happy, but then were back the next night writing the copy and writing the headlines for issue number two," he says.

Since its launch, Rolling Stone has seen Hunter S. Thompson cover politics and it has investigated some of the most controversial topics in recent human history, such as HIV and the Vietnam War.

Not just music: Rolling Stone has also earned a reputation for its political and cultural journalism

Lydon left the magazine a few issues later to pursue his own freelance work. Looking back, he puts the survival of Rolling Stone down to Wenner's foresight.

"We were just a little tabloid newspaper but he had an idea, somehow, of what it was going to become," he says. "Rolling Stone hit immediately and we were sort of a big deal, (with) people wanting to be interviewed and wanting to have their story in the paper right away."

Lydon, now 75, is a singer-songwriter who's also written several books. Fifty years on, he is still happy to be remembered for his part in the birth of Rolling Stone.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Four guys, one fate

Forever a rock 'n' roller? The Rolling Stones are among the world's oldest rock bands. On average, they're now 73. You may be able to read their age in their faces, but their youthful energy doesn't seem to have diminished — they just completed a taxing European tour that included 13 concerts across nine countries.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Starting out with rhythm and blues

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met each other at school. In 1962, they founded The Rolling Stones. Also performing at their first concert in London were Tony Chapman (drums), Dick Taylor (bass) and Ian Stewart (piano). Another line-up followed with Brian Jones (second guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums), who performed on the first album, The Rolling Stones, in 1964.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Bad boy band

With their feel-good songs, The Beatles were already achieving world fame in 1964. That's why Andrew Loog Oldham, then manager of the Stones, wanted to create a counter-pole to the Fab Four. They were to become famous as the "bad boys" — though during their first TV performance in the show "Ready Steady Go," they came across as harmless good guys.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

A different image

One year later, on September 11, 1965, the Stones gave their first concert in West Germany — in the rather conservative city of Münster. The police had a hard time keeping their fans under control. Most residents in Münster, however, eyed the Stones with suspicion. They were actually lucky, though. Fans in Berlin demolished a stage during a later concert, which would take seven years to rebuild.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll

During the late 1960s, no other band came to embody the image of the hedonistic rock star more than the Stones. The combination of rock music, free love and drug consumption seemed a constant at the time. Stones guitarist Brian Jones became ill from his drug use, which is why he left the band in June 1969. A short time later, he drowned in his swimming pool under mysterious circumstances.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

An ingenious idea

In May 1965, the Stones went on their third tour across the US, playing cover versions of US hits once more. They still hadn't produced enough songs of their own. One night, Keith played a new melody on his guitar, and he loved it so much that he recorded it and had Mick listen to it. It was the hookline of their first worldwide hit: "Satisfaction."

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Shock in Altamont

The Altamont Free Concert, initiated by the Stones management, was intended as a peaceful counter event to Woodstock. Alongside the Stones on stage were, among others, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Jefferson Airplane. When the Stones appeared, there was a great deal upheaval among the audience and the concert needed to be interrupted. The Hells Angels were behind the commotion.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

The end of the hippie era

When the Stones started playing "Under my Thumb," a man collapsed in front of the stage after a member of the Hells Angels stabbed him in the back. The band was shocked. Later, they finished the Altamont Free Concert. "If Woodstock was the dream," said British photographer Eamon McCabe later, "then Altamont was the nightmare." This day, December 6,1969, saw the end of the hippie era.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Live and raw

Altamont made a dent, but only for a short time. The Rolling Stones continued with their straight rock 'n' roll - a style that made them world famous. And the Stones wouldn't have been the Stones if they had decided to stop giving concerts or going on tours. For 50 years, they've successfully been playing stages around the world. In 2003, pictured here, they performed in Moscow.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

'I'm a rolling stone'

In 2006, Japanese fans enjoyed a Stones concert in the city of Saitama, north of Tokyo (pictured). Some time later, the Stones performed in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. True fans were the world know where the band's name came from: Apparently, Brian Jones was inspired by the blues hit "Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters, which contained the line, "I'm a rolling stone."

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Rocking to retirement

Even at an older age - Mick and Keith are both in their mid-70s now - The Rolling Stones continue to tour around the world, entertaining fans young and old alike. In May 2014, for example, they performed during the Rio Lisboa Music Festival in Lisbon. And, as usual, they gave their very best, much to the joy of their Portuguese fans.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Cuba - we'll be there

In February 2016, the Rolling Stones started their América-Latina-Olé-Tour in Santiago de Chile, giving their final concert at the end of March in Cuba. It was a free event at a sports park in Havana, where the boys did their best to demonstrate how fit they still were. In this picture, the band had just landed at the airport of Havana. The concert DVD "Havana Moon" was released in November 2016.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

'No Filter' Tour comes to Germany

Fortunately for German fans, the band also made a recent stop there. On September 9, 2017 the "No Filter" tour arrived at the port city of Hamburg before heading to two more German venues, Munich's Olympic Stadium on September 12 and the Dusseldorf Arena on October 9. No one knows when - or if - the Stones will play in Germany again, which is why those tickets were highly coveted.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll: The Rolling Stones

Rockin' grandpa

With Mick Jagger having turned 75 and Keith Richards also about to make the same landmark later in 2018, there seems to be no stopping for the Rolling Stones. Jagger, by now a great-grandfather, continues to live like a 27-year-old, touring, recording and having a great time while being the rock legend he is. May the Stones rock and roll forever more!